


De Tavi Pontis Clade Carminis Fragmenta: Newly Discovered Fragments

by cnoocy



Category: The Tay Bridge Disaster - William McGonagall
Genre: Academia, Gen, Hexameter, scholarship
Language: Lingua latina
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 10:25:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17119592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cnoocy/pseuds/cnoocy
Summary: The opening and closing of Gulielmus McGonagall's De Tavi Pontis Clade, newly discovered in the original Latin.





	De Tavi Pontis Clade Carminis Fragmenta: Newly Discovered Fragments

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lnhammer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lnhammer/gifts).



### Introduction

The work of Caledonian poet Gulielmus McGonagall is generally only known in English translations, which “defy complete analysis.” (Walker 5) Until this point, none of the original Latin versions of these poems have been published. Many lost works can be found, however, if one is willing to expend sufficient intellectual effort. 

This writer discovered the first line presented below in October of 2017. However, as the first line is so similar between all three poems in the Tavi Pons cycle, it remained unclear which of the poems it begins. Thus, they were overjoyed to see the suggestion that the middle poem in the cycle should be available “in Virgilian hexameters.” (Hammer) Encouraged, this writer returned to the books and was able to find the two fragments of De Tavi Pontis Clade provided below. 

Though the traditional English translations are justly celebrated, a prose gloss of the new fragments is provided as well.

### Text

#### Opening

##### Traditional Translation (McGonagall Online)

> Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!  
>  Alas! I am very sorry to say  
>  That ninety lives have been taken away  
>  On the last Sabbath day of 1879,  
>  Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

##### Latin Original

> Trāminis ō pulcher pons tū Tāvī radiantis!  
>  Mortem (vae!) vītās nōnāgintā rapuisse  
>  Lūmine postrēmō sanctō cūjūspiam || annī  
>  (Hic millēsimus atqu’octōcentēsimus annus  
>  Undēoctōgēsimus est) mē dīcere lædit  
>  Cūjūs nos memorēs erimus per sæcula multa.

##### Prose Translation

> O you beautiful track bridge of the shining Tay!  
>  That Death (woe!) has snatched ninety lives  
>  In the final holy light of a certain year  
>  (This year the thousandth and eight hundredth  
>  One-from-eightieth is) injures me to say  
>  Of which we will be mindful through many centuries.

#### Closing

##### Traditional

> Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,  
>  I must now conclude my lay  
>  By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,  
>  That your central girders would not have given way,  
>  At least many sensible men do say,  
>  Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,  
>  At least many sensible men confesses,  
>  For the stronger we our houses do build,  
>  The less chance we have of being killed.

##### Latin Original

> Trāminis infēlix ō pons Tāvī radiantis!  
>  Nunc mihi carminis est nostrī fīnis facienda  
>  Impavidē mundō absque metū minimō referendō  
>  Nōn ullā ratiōne trabēs mediās cecidisse,  
>  Saltem sīc hominēs cautī plērīque loquuntur,  
>  Illæ antēridibus sī fultæ essent utrobīque,  
>  Saltem sīc hominēs cautī plērīque fatētur,  
>  Nam quam fortis erit nostra ars domuum faciendī,  
>  Tam paucās sortēs dūcēmus nōs moriendī.

##### Prose Translation

> O unlucky track bridge of the shining Tay!  
>  Now an end must be made of our song by me  
>  By relating to the world without the smallest fear  
>  That not by any reasoning would the central beams have fallen  
>  At least thus do most cautious people speak,  
>  If those had been supported on either side by buttresses,  
>  At least thus does most cautious people confess,  
>  For however strong will be our skill at making houses,  
>  So few lottery tickets of dying will we draw.

### Bibliography

  * McGonagall, William. “The Tay Bridge Disaster.” McGonagall Online, www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/the-tay-bridge-disaster.
  * McGonagall, William. McGonagall: A Selection. Edited by Colin S. K. Walker, Birlinn, 1998.
  * Hammer, Larry. “Yuletide Letter 2018.” Larry's Pretty Good Journal, 10 Oct. 2018, larryhammer.dreamwidth.org/699698.html.




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